The Third Time Really is a Charm

I am so glad that Candice Glover won American Idol. Not only do I think she is a better singer than Kree Harrison, but I also liked her personality better. I  personally would have preferred Angie Miller was in the top two, but I’m just glad Candice won. That woman has such an extremely powerful yet controlled voice. I would give anything to sing even remotely as good as she can. And to think, this was her third time auditioning for American Idol! The finale was, as usually too long, but I did enjoy a few of the performances such as Emeli Sande and Amber Holcomb’s performance of Next to Me and Jesse J's surprise performance with Angie Miller. It was really awesome that Jesse J asked Angie to perform at a concert in London. Man, I would die from a heart attack if my idols, Pink or Kelly Clarkson, asked me to sing at one of their concert. I was surprised by how many performances the judges did. I wonder why Nicki Minaj did not perform at all. To be honest I'm glad she did not perform. Not only am I not a fan of her music but I am not a fan of her behavior on American Idol as a judge. She was very immature and unprofessional. Minaj often let her own personal biases and emotions skew her criticism. For example, after Lazaro Arbos performed a song, instead of just politely critiquing the performance, all she could say was “Okay” in a very rude manner. I often wonder if Minaj, or the other judges for that fact, realize that they are being paid to do a job, not spend the time rambling on about themselves or fighting each other. If this was any other job, they would be reprimanded for their behavior. It is no surprise to me that The Voice had better ratings over American Idol. Although the judges could get a little competitive and egotistical sometimes, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira, and Usher showed true concern, compassion, and beneficial criticism towards the contestants on The Voice. I have been a fan of American Idol since it very first aired, however, if Idol cannot chose better judges, it may lose a fan.

Humanity of the Undead

I've been reading the novel "Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion, and I must say that it is quite a tale. The extent of unique concepts seen in the movie of the same name comes nowhere close to that of the novel. Although many aspects of the movie are similar to the book, there are some ideas that are excluded from the movie, which in my opinion may be a good thing. The level of humanity that Marion portrays in his zombies can boggle the mind. In his novel, his zombies attend church, have a family, attend school, and even have a twisted version of sexual intercourse. Church is comprised of zombies standing in a circle, school consists of a helpless living human being attacked by zombie children, and sex is just standing around naked. I would argue that some zombie fans may not enjoy this unique encroachment into humanity. To me, these activities seem too ordinary to have such a supernatural phenomenon like zombies participating in them. However, although I do not like reading about zombies performing these acts, I cannot help but feel that Marion is trying to incorporate a deeper meaning into his novel. Perhaps he is saying that  the basic needs of pursuit of knowledge, craving of company, or hunger for touch, is so deeply embedded in our being that even a hypothetical situation of the zombie apocalypse  cannot extinguish these needs. Whatever his message is, I enjoyed the movie more than I did the novel, which is quite rare for me to say.

 

A Fan's Biggest Dream

Yet another winner of Survivor was chosen and I can honestly say that this season proved to be the most dramatic yet. It appeared to me that there were more physically injuries and mental breakdowns this season than past years. And to top it off, the winner could be the biggest underdog the competition has seen. John Cochran, or Cochran, was a huge fan of the show. If a person wrote his thesis paper on the jury system, you can guarantee that this person is a fan. Cochran proved this by the analysis he showed during the show, which ended up benefiting him in the end. Out of the final three competitors he made the most convincing case of why he should be the winner of Survivor. Dawn Meehan, throughout the competition proved herself to be out of control when it came to her emotions. I think Sherri Biethman destroyed her chances of winning during her speech at final tribal council. She shouldn't have told the jury she was in control of multiple businesses, because her wealth possibly dissuaded the jury from handing her the million dollars. It didn't help that she responded so rudely to Erik Reichenbach. I feel that this was a defensive move on her part, since she may have realized she would not receive any votes in her favor. During the live reunion it was quite odd that only members of the jury were placed on stage and questioned by Jeff Probst. All of the competitors should have at least been able to sit on stage, even if Jeff did not have time to speak to them.